A Facebook message posted Friday on the Village of East Hampton page, signed by Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, angrily takes issue with PSEG-LI’s having closed off the Reutershan parking lot behind Main Street that day.
“This work was done without the Village’s knowledge,” he wrote. “We would’ve never allowed this on a Friday in July. PSEG has been notified this was unacceptable.”
PSEG, when contacted, denied that it was responsible. “Is it possible the mayor conflated the gas company with the electric company in that Facebook post?” Jeremy Walsh, a spokesperson, wondered. PSEG contacted the village, and the post has been updated to point the finger at the real culprit, National Grid.
Wendy Frigeria, a spokeswoman for National Grid, acknowledged to The Star that “we were doing work on Friday morning until 12:30 p.m. and we apologize for any inconvenience for the businesses in the area. We were completing the tie-in of the new gas main. Next week the restoration of the roadway and sidewalk will begin, we are trying to complete the restoration work as quickly as possible. We have reached out to the village and will coordinate better in the future.”
“To minimize traffic concerns on Main Street,” she added, National Grid will begin restoring the roadway between Buell and Huntting Lanes next week, but will wait until after Labor Day to work on Route 27 (Main Street) between Buell Lane and Woods Lane.
Told yesterday of the Buell-to-Huntting Lane plan, Mayor Larsen sounded incensed. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I will have Dave Collins call them today.”
Mr. Collins, the superintendent of the Public Works Department, was understood to be in contact with National Grid later, making sure that its contractors better appreciate the village’s summer traffic patterns.
